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W. 0. HICKOK.

Straw and Hay Cutter. No. 23,025. Patented Feb.'22,'1859.

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, V UNITED STATES PATENT @FFTCE.

WM. 0. HIGKOK, OF HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

MACHINE FOR CUTTING STEAW AND HAY.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 23,025, dated February 22, 18 59.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, W. O. HIGKOK, of Harrisburg, in the county of Dauphin and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Machine for Cutting Straw, Hay, &c.; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of the specification, in which Figure 1, is a side elevation of the machine, the balance wheel being removed; and Fig. 2, a top view of the same, having a part of the cap removed for the purpose of showing the relative positions of the shaker and feed rollers.

Like letters in both figures indicate the same objects.

In this machine the general construction and arrangement of the feed box, A, with its metallic plates, B, B, cover, C, and front plate, D, of the feed rollers, E, and F, spur wheel, 5, springs, 0, and of the driving wheel J, its shaft, f, cylinder of cutters, (not seen in the drawings), and pinion, 4, are the same as in that improved by me and patented the 23rd. day of February 1858.

The present invention consists in the arrangement, in combination with the upper or yielding feed roller and the shaft of the revolving cutters, of a coupling-lever, carrying a pinion which gears into a spur wheel fixed on the near journal of the said roller and also into a pinion fixed on the cutter shaft, the journals of the said roller working in slots or guides which are each curved so as to be concentric with the said cuttershaft, as hereinafter described and illustrated, whereby the constantly varying position of the said roller, under the pressure'of the usual springs as it rises and falls in feeding, is prevented from causing a variation in the depth of the teeth, of the connecting gear wheels, with each other, while it is at the same time allowed to rise and fall, at either or both ends, in accordance with the requirements of the varying thickness of the mass of substance which may be drawn in beneath by the said roller, and this without causing a variation in the distance of the said roller from the shaft of the said out ters; and whereby also, the action of the said gear wheels upon the coupling lever, causes the latter to aid the springs in producing the required pressure of the said roller upon the fully understand and construct my invention, I will proceed to describe it.

In the drawings, G, is the coupling lever which connects the shaft (f) of the driving wheel (5,) with the shaft of the upper feedroller (E), by fitting loosely over them. This lever (G) is bent as seen in the drawings, and has a pinion, 6, attached to its side so as to rotate thereon and gear into a pinion, 7, which is fixed on the driving wheel shaft (f), and also into the spur wheel 8, which is fixed on the shaft of the upper feed-roller (E), so that when the driving wheel (J) is rotated, in the direction of the arrow thereon, a rotary motion is given, in the same direction, to the spur wheel (8) and, of course, to the feed roller (E). The shaft of this feed roller (E) works in curved slots or guides (shown by the dotted lines in, Fig. 1) cut through the metallic side plates of the box (A) so as to be concentric with the driving-wheel shaft (f) ,1 consequently, in the operation of this part of my invention, the coupling-lever (G), having its fulcrum around the said shaft (f), will keep the pinion (6) always at the samede'pth of gear with the spur wheel (8) and the pinion (7) during the rising and falling motions of the feedroller (E) Whether the said he moved either parallel with the roller (F), or more at one end than the other, while at the same time there can be no variation in the distance of the feed roller (E) from the cutter, and the usual springs (a while acting, through the hooked rods, a, a, to keep the roller in pressure contact with the substance which is being out, are at the same time aided in their action by the downward pressure produced upon the coupling lever (G) by the leverage of the pinions (6, and 7,) exerted upon the spur wheel (8) the whole together producing that kind of flexibility of motion with uniformity in the depth of the gear wheels, so desirable in the feed apparatus of cutting boxes.

The reciprocating shaker consists of a flat piece of wood or metal, H, which is placed so as to be reciprocated longitudinally and horizontally across, and level or flush with, the bottom of the box (A) and in front of the feed rollers (E and F)-as seen in Fig. 2.

Its upper side is provided with a row of teeth, or short spikes, Z), I), which are inclined slightly toward the feed rollers (E, F seen in the dotted lines, 3 in Fig. 1), a sufficient opening, I, being left entirely across and through the bottom of the box (A), between the said shaker (H) and the lower feed-roller (F)for the escape of the dirt, sand or gravel which the shaker (H), when in action, may separate from the substances to be cut. Motion is given to the said shaker (H) by means of the short cylinder, K, which is fixed on the shaft of the lower roller (F) between the spur wheel (5) and the side of the frame which supports the box (A). This cylinder has a serpentine groove, 9, cut in its periphery, and into which a stud 10, in the shaker (H) projects so that, when rotary motion is given to the roller (F), by means of the spur wheel and pinion (4), the said cylinder (K) acts like a cam upon the stud (10), and thereby produces the reciprocating motion required in the shaker (H).

In the operation of this part of my invention, it is manifest that as the straw, hay, or other substance to be cut, is drawn over the shaker (H) by the feed rollers (E and F), a sufficient agitation will be continuously given to it, to loosen the dirt, sand or gravel and cause its discharge through the opening (I), before the substance to be cut passes between the feed rollers (E and F) and therefore the injury heretofore produced upon the cutters by such extraneous matter is, by thus arranging the shaker so "f' v g tg ()perate in advance of the feed-rollers,

entirely prevented.

I am aware that a yielding feed-roller and also a cleaning comb has before been arranged in connection with a driving pinion or spur wheel fixed on the cutter-shaft; that bridle-pieces have also been applied in making such connection; and that the axis of the driving pinion of a yielding feed-roller has been arranged above the axis of said roller -the latter vibrating in vertical guides; and also that a shaker or cleaning comb has been arranged to operate between the feed-rollers and the cutters for the removal of the sand or gravel; therefore, I do not claim, broadly, connecting the pinion on the cutter-shaft, with the feed-rollers vibrating in guides; neither do I claim the arrangement of a shaker between the feed-rollers and the cutters; but

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- The arrangement, in combination with the upper or yielding feed-rollers (E) and the cutter shaft (f), of the coupling-lever (Gr), when the said lever (G) connects the said feed-roller (E) with the cutter-shaft (f), by having its fulcrum around the said shaft (f) and also carries the pinion (6) which connects the pinion (7), of the shaft (f), with the spur wheel (8-) of the near journal of the feed-roller (E)as set forththe journals of the said feed-roller (E) working in grooves which are curved so as to be concentric with the said cutter-shaft (f), as described; the same operating together in the manner and for the purposes set forth and described.

W. O. HICKOK.

Witnesses S. SOHRIVER, HENRY BEADER. 

